Tech startups in Malaga will be eligible to enter the US-based 500 Startups accelerator thanks to a collaboration between 500 Startups and BIC Euronova.
The Director General of BIC Euronova, Álvaro Simón de Blas, and Caitlin Glazebrook, Associate at 500 Startups Strategic Alliances Program, have laid the foundations to carry out collaborations between both entities during recent meeting held at the headquarters of the accelerator in Silicon Valley, according to a BIC Euronova report last Friday.
500 Startups is a venture capital firm on a mission to discover and back the world’s most talented entrepreneurs, help them create successful companies at scale, and build thriving global ecosystems. It is one of the most active seed stage venture capital firms in the world.
The collaboration will focus on fostering synergies and cooperation between the two entities in which BIC Euronova will act as an agent in Malaga in order to channel the potential local technology companies that meet the requirements to qualify for the 500 Startups acceleration programs.
500 Startups, which has more than €343 million in committed capital in four main funds and 13 micro-funds, will join forces with BIC Euronova to support technology startups in Malaga, which will be eligible for the acceleration programs of the US company that has supported companies like Twilio, Credit Karma, Grab, Udemy, Ipsy, Intercom, MakerBot, Wildfire, and Viki, among others.
Also under consideration is the possibility of creating an acceleration program in Malaga itself with 500 Startups in collaboration with BIC Euronova.
All this has been possible within the framework of the Malaga Tech Week mission in which BIC Euronova participated in Silicon Valley, together with the Chamber of Commerce of Malaga.
500 Startups has a team of 150 people, who speak more than 25 languages, based in 20 countries and manage seed investments in 60 countries.
BIC Euronova has extensive experience as a pioneering European Center for Business and Innovation in Malaga, which has supported more than 4,350 entrepreneur projects, as well as the creation of almost 900 innovative new companies since its inception.
Founded in 1991 on the initiative of the Commission of the European Communities, BIC Euronova, the European Center for Businesses and Innovation (CEEI) of Malaga, is a company formed by public and private capital that supports the creation of innovative SMEs.
From its inception, the European Commission conceived CEEIS as an international network that would allow the exchange of information and experiences among them and favor technological, commercial, and financial cooperation between them and their clients.
Last month Malaga hosted the Horasis India Meeting where 300 visionaries in business, politics, and academia discussed jointly inspiring India’s future and economy.
Read More: Malaga will host Horasis India Meeting to discuss India’s economic future
Novobrief was in Malaga during the Horasis India Meeting where we caught up with Mayor Francisco de la Torre, who praised the city for its entrepreneurial spirit, friendly people, and rich cultural history while reminding us that the Malaga’s historical impact on the world goes back some 3,000 years.
A Brief Look into the Malaga Tech and Startup Scene
Malaga Bullring
While most on the outside see only Barcelona and Madrid as major players in the Spanish tech and startup ecosystem, Malaga, too, is vibrant on the scene.
According to Startupxplore, Malaga’s “technology sector is dominated by combination of public and private institutions (Parque Tecnológico Andaluz (PTA), where the Asociación de Parques Científicos y Tecnológicos de España is located) as well as startups that are trying to build big companies from the city: Hot.es, Resultados-fútbol, Freepik, Flaticon or Fishfishme.”
Angel.co lists over 50 startups in the city on its register, and the coastal town is home to the MalagaMakers startup community, which shares a global vision and helps creative engineers and designers, marketeers, web professionals, investors, journalists and all sorts of creative professionals meet in Malaga.
Palacio Episcopal de Malaga
Big name accelerators such as Bolt, which invests up to €20,000 per startup, and Techstars Startup Weekend, have both been heavily active in old Malaka.
Malaga’s AI-startup Taalentfy was named one of the top three most innovative startups in the Spanish-speaking world and took home the Best Social Work Startup award at the New York Summit 2017 Startup Competition.
Last year, the EBAN Annual Congress chose Malaga as the city to host one of Europe’s largest and most international business angel events.
And taking place just days before the Horasis India Meeting was the Smart Agrifood Summit, the world’s largest event on innovation and entrepreneurship in the Agrifood sector, which runs from June 20-22, 2018.